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By Melvin Teo
Nov 03, 2006

A wise man once said that there were two types of people in this world: Windows Mobile fanatics, and Palm lovers. Over the past five years, while the former have enjoyed a plethora of new-age models to choose from, including the likes of O2, HP and Dopod, the latter have constantly clung onto their one true shining glory, the Palm Treo 650. Two years ago, to everyone's collective surprise, rumors were rife about a Palm-Windows collaboration, for the flagship series no less. A year later, Asia watched as the US received the Windows-driven Palm Treo 700w, a marriage between two handheld powerhouses that was received with mixed reviews. Now the new Treo 750v has finally arrived on our sunny shores, and easily bears our strong recommendation as one of the best PDA-phones money can currently buy.

Design
At 111 x 58 x 22mm and 154g, it is virtually identical in size to the Treo 650 but sheds 20g in weight. Perhaps because of this, the handset feels solid and tough, yet isn't too heavy. More strikingly, the obtrusive stubby antenna which dotted the 650's neat package has thankfully been removed with the new Treo. From the sleek silver rim surrounding the square display to the blue rubbery back casing, the Treo 750v is one classy handset with an executive tinge to it. Build quality is also superb.

Even though the 750v's 240 x 240-pixel, 65K-color touch screen is slightly lower in resolution compared with the 650, it is still sharp, extremely bright and easily viewed under direct sunlight. The touchscreen display itself is also very responsive.

One of our favorite features, the one-touch silent mode rocker located at the top of the handset, has been changed from a protruding metallic knob to a flushed plastic slider with grooves. While this makes it slightly more difficult to maneuver, it also prevents accidental switching of modes.

Many have raved and praised the Treo 650 for being truly operational with one hand, and much of this is due to the five-way navigational pad and soft keys. The 750v's central navigational pad is just as comfortable and easy to use, and all the softkeys provide excellent tactile response when pressed. The 750v has Start and OK keys in place of the Palm-based Calendar and Mail options of the 650, while two other buttons just below the display are designed to operate the bottom menus of the Windows Mobile 5.0 interface. Furthermore, the rubber back casing allows for a firm yet comfortable grip, making one-handed operation less tiring.

The full QWERTY keypad is adequately illuminated by a white backlight when pressed. For phone usage, the 0-9 number pad is cleverly integrated into the keyboard as well, accessible by pressing the shift button at the bottom left. The keypad can feel a little cramped, especially for people with large hands, but typing is generally accurate once you get used to the layout. For SMS lovers, much faster typing speeds can be managed using two thumbs with the fingers supporting the phone.

Together with the camera sensor and small reflective mirror for self-portraits, the large speaker grille is unfortunately located at the back of the handset, resulting in muffled incoming alerts unless the phone is deliberately rested with the display side facing downwards. An IR port and miniSD slot are found on the right side of the 750v, while the volume controls and a customizable button rest on the opposite side.

One minor gripe we had with the Treo was with the stylus, where the rear plastic half feels a little flimsy compared with the steel tip. However, we hardly ever had to extract the stylus from its holder because of the ease in operating the phone via all the external controls available. The miniSD cover is rather flimsy and a bit hard to close. Going with a 2.5mm audio jack at the bottom of the handset means an external adapter is needed if you wish to plug in your favorite 3.5mm earphones. We would also have preferred a mini-USB connection from Palm to PC instead of the proprietary data cable hookup, but at least the data cable comes bundled with the standard package.

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